Avengers Unite
by Quill to Paper
Summary: AU "If we can't protect the earth you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it." What if the Chitauri won? Who would stand against them? Who would fight back? Who would avenge the earth? The Avengers re-assemble with new allies and old foes. Their goal; to take back the Earth. Whatever the cost. T for violence
1. Prologue

**A/N: The story is an AU of what might have happened if the Chitauri won the Battle for Manhattan. It's movieverse obviously, but it will include other Avengers that appeared in the comics and TV series. I've also got an OC added into quite an important part but more on her later. I'll try and update once a week on a Friday or Saturday, but that might vary for some people because I live in Britain. I really hope you like it and if you do please leave me a review, even if you don't have an account. I don't think I've forgotten anything except... **

**Disclaimer: Oh yeah! No I am not Marvel studios, nor am I Stan Lee or any other writers or creators of the Avnegers. So no, I don't own the Avengers. **

* * *

They had all bit the dust, all of them.

Hill was in hospital in a coma, not expected to wake up.

Coulson was dead, killed by Loki's sceptre.

The Black Widow was taken prisoner.

Hawkeye had gone deep underground.

Iron Man had taken Pepper and headed for the hills.

The Hulk had turned back to Bruce Banner and disappeared off to Calcutta again.

Thor had to go back to Asgard and fend off an invasion.

Fury was in hospital, bleeding internally, not expected to survive.

Only Captain America was left, even he had taken a heavy beating.

He didn't know why or how he ended up standing at Nick Fury's bedside with a woman with black hair and electric blue eyes, she looked battered and beaten and her dark cat suit with stripes of glowing silver was torn in places.

"You look like crap," muttered Fury.

She smiled shakily. "You look worse."

"Yeah, I don't think I'm gonna last much longer," he sighed which was followed by a racking cough.

"C'mon you old Cyclopes," she muttered. "You've fought back against them for almost a year, that's not long enough! They're still advancing, we need Nick Fury."

"No you don't," he shook his head weakly. "You need the Avengers."

"The Avengers?" she frowned. "Aside from Captain America here, no one has heard from the others since the battle for Manhattan. The Black Widow was taken prisoner at the battle, it's not likely that she's alive, Hawkeye went deep underground when he thought she was dead, Stark is in the back end of no where with his new wife, Banner's back in Calcutta healing the sick or something, Thor and his hammer are worlds away! And you expect us to get them back together?"

"No, I expect you to get them back together; you Jackie," he said.

She was speechless.

"You're my protégé, you can do this, and I've been grooming you for the job for the last year."

"A year isn't that long," she countered. "I'm not ready!"

"Maybe not, but you will be soon," he closed his eyes and it was clearly a struggle to get them back open. "You're in charge now Agent Baxter."

He closed his eyes again. They didn't open.

"Director Fury? Fury?" she shook his arm slightly, then roughly. "Fury! Nick! Nick!"

The medics pushed her out of the way and Steve caught her around the waist, pulling her back as the medics called it. Steve pulled her out of the room and let go of her. She stalked to the other side of the corridor and slammed her fist into the wall. She breathed deeply and rested her head against the wall; closing her eyes.

"So, what's next boss?" Steve asked quietly.

She breathed deeply, once, twice, three times and then straightened up. She turned and looked Steve dead in the eye. "Get me Janet Van Dyne and Hank Pym."


	2. 1: Black Widow's Rescue

**A/N: Okay, you get this chapter earlier than I'll normally supply them. I'm trying to keep them all in character so if I'm failing miserably please tell me! Thank you to all of my lovely readers and reviewers, if your reading and you haven't reviewed don't be shy, I need the confidence boost. **

**Disclaimer: Yeah, I'm good but I'm not that good; I don't own the Avengers.**

* * *

If the Chitauri had a weakness, it was their complete lack of peripheral vision. This was the thought running through Janet Van Dyne's head as she flew along the corridor. What's more is they couldn't care less about what seemed like a wasp. Because that's what she was; The Wasp. She took a sharp turn down another corridor and came to a door. The vent above it looked like the perfect entrance.

Grinning to herself Janet buzzed through and landed in front of the computer monitor.

"Ant-Man?" she whispered into her comm. "You here yet?"

Someone dropped down beside her, a really small someone. "Yep."

"Gotta say," she muttered as she tapped the password into the computer. "The Chitauri really should invest in a better security system, and maybe they should have changed the passwords."

"It's lucky they didn't," murmured Hank as she placed her small hands on the pad and scrolled through the data until she found what she needed. "You got the stick?"

"Uh huh," she nodded and pulled the small memory stick off her back. "It's actually pretty heavy."

"It would be it's almost the same size as you," snorted Hank.

"Only when I'm mini," she protested. "I think this is it!"

Hank plugged in the stick and they downloaded the file.

"You think the plan will work?" Janet whispered; she knew just what was at risk if it didn't.

"If it doesn't, then God or whoever is out there help us all," frowned Hank. "C'mon, we'd better get out of here."

Janet strapped the stick to her back and grabbed Hank under the arms before lifting off; leaving through the vent and finding their way back out of what used to be SHIELD HQ.

* * *

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Constantly dripping, for hours, days!

Natasha Romanoff breathed deeply and tried to focus on something other than the water droplets sailing down from the pipe to land on her head.

From all the dripping her long red hair was soaked; it was the closest she'd ever had to a wash in that God forsaken place. The worst thing was that the drips were erratic; you never knew when they were going to hit you. She had been trained for this; as the Black Widow, as a SHIELD agent; but she had no idea how long she had been there. They had wanted information at first, the torture had been daily back then. They didn't do physical stuff, just went inside her head and rooted around. But once their borders had expanded and they had access to all the information they wanted they just threw her into their maximum security prison. On the plus side she had kept in shape; there wasn't really much else to do. On the downside every now and then they would grab her and lock her in that chair for heaven only knows how long! Natasha closed her eyes and waited for the next drop. But it never came.

Her eyes flew open and she saw a hand over her head, blocking the water drops. Natasha's eyes followed the hand up an arm covered in scarlet wrappings up to the elbow, up a shoulder to a scarlet strap and then up to a woman's face as she smirked down at Natasha. She grinned, tossing her dark brown hair back over her shoulder, and raised her other hand to the restraints on Natasha's wrists. Something seemed to glow red around her hand and the restraints unlocked.

Natasha lifted her wrists cautiously and let the woman pull her up to a sitting position.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice hoarse from lack of use.

"Wanda Maximoff," she grinned. "Or the Scarlet Witch." She pulled Natasha up and she got a good look at Wanda.

It was obvious why she was called the Scarlet Witch; she wore a scarlet halter top which dipped into a V shape in the front, she was wearing black skin tight trousers with a thick crimson stripe down the side of each leg. She had some sort of gun resting on her hip.

"What are you doing here? Why are you helping me?" asked Natasha.

"I was sent to break you out," answered Wanda, handing the gun to Natasha. "Use that on the way out if you need to."

"Why? And who sent you?" demanded Natasha, even as Wanda started dragging her to the door. She knew it was a small hope that Fury had sent someone after her; if they were going to they would have done by now.

"My boss," answered Wanda, looking both ways down the corridor before dragging Natasha out.

"Who?" hissed Natasha, digging her heels in and refusing to budge.

"Look Romanoff, d'you want outta here or not?" glared Wanda.

"Who sent you?" Natasha repeated, turning the gun on Wanda.

"Really?" she huffed. "Fine, I was sent by Agent Baxter; new director of SHIELD. Well what's left of it anyway. She wants me to get you out so you can re join the Avengers."

Natasha lowered the gun. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"You don't," smiled Wanda before the smile melted from her face very quickly.

A bolt of energy shot down the corridor and Wanda barely had time to pull Natasha out of the way. Another bolt shot towards them and Wanda brought up her hands, a glowing red seemed to shoot from her palms and deflect the beam, sending it back towards the Chitauri soldier who had shot it. He hit the ground and Natasha shot another two soldiers who came around the corner.

"Let's go," urged Wanda and the two women ran down the corridor, Wanda leading the way. They had to take out several Chitauri but eventually an alarm blared through the prison and Wanda groaned before she grabbed Natasha's wrist and muttered something under her breath. Natasha saw a red glow engulf her and Wanda before the Scarlet Witch let go and beckoned Natasha further down the corridor. They ran through the halls, past the Chitauri who seemed to have no idea they were there.

When Natasha opened her mouth to speak Wanda lifted a finger to her lips; telling her to be quiet. Natasha obeyed and soon they were outside in the exercise yard. Wanda punched something into a device on her wrist and a second later an old SHIELD quinjet was landing in front of them. The hatch opened and they ran in; just as Wanda's spell wore off.

The Scarlet Witch practically threw herself into the pilot's chair and Natasha took the other one. Wanda flicked several switches and they lifted into the air.

"See that building?" grinned Wanda, pointing to a building in the centre of the prison. "Think you can take it out?"

Natasha smiled, taking control of the weapons. "It would be my pleasure." She launched three missiles at the building and shot down any Chitauri trying to escape it.

"That's essentially the nucleus of the prison," explained Wanda. "I imagine all the cells are open now; the Chitauri are gonna be too busy re capturing their prisoners and cleaning up the mess you just made to come after you."

Natasha raised an eyebrow at her. "You really thought that through didn't you?"

"Yep," grinned Wanda. "You were very high on our list."

"So, what's the plan?" asked Natasha as Wanda cloaked the jet and started to fly them back to base.

"Honestly? Jackie hasn't exactly been forthcoming," sighed Wanda. "But I suppose you can't really blame her; she's still reeling from Fury's death."

"Fury's death?" repeated Natasha. "What happened?"

"Chitauri attack, he was badly injured; I don't know the full story since I was at another base, but as far as I gather he took a blast for Agent Baxter. He didn't make it; Hill is in a coma and they don't know when she'll wake up. Jackie was his protégé and he made her his successor just before he died."

Natasha bowed her head for a moment, in respect for her old boss. "Who've we got to work with?"

"Well there's me," grinned Wanda. "The Scarlet Witch."

"Weren't you our enemy?" frowned Natasha, tensing up slightly as she remembered the name.

"That was a while ago now, Black Widow," answered Wanda. "With the Chitauri in control a lot of people have switched sides." She looked down, pain crossing her face briefly.

Natasha didn't comment on that. "Who else?"

"Captain America, or Steve Rogers," continued Wanda. "I believe you knew him; he's always spoken of you with respect."

Natasha smiled slightly as she remembered the super soldier.

"Hank Pym, a scientist who can change his size; known as Ant-Man or Giant-Man," continued Wanda. "The Wasp; or Janet Van Dyne; she can shrink, fly and shoot little bolts of energy at you that hurt like anything!"

"First hand experience?" smirked Natasha.

"They hurt!" she scowled and Natasha laughed. "She's like some… really tough brunette version of Tinkerbell! Anyway; we've also got our leader; Jackie Baxter; she… well it's kinda hard to explain what she does. Let's just say she can control electricity, but not just control it. It literally runs in her blood, so she can shoot it out too." Wanda glanced sideways at Natasha. "Some know her as Electrica."

"Electrica?" repeated Natasha. "I know her; Barton and I took her down a few years ago. Wait, what about Barton? Is he with you?"

"Uh, I think I'll let the boss explain that one to you, and anyway you look like you need some real food."

On cue Natasha's stomach let out a loud rumble and Wanda smirked.

"C'mon," she started lowering the plane and Natasha raised an eyebrow when all she saw was water. The jet got lower and lower until in was submerged in the water. Apparently they were rigged for underwater travel too. Wanda steered it downwards towards the sea bed and opened up communications.

"_Identification?" _asked the young agent on the line.

"Quinjet 324, identification 194574, Scarlet Witch piloting, password; Lincoln," rattled off Wanda.

"_You are cleared for entrance and landing quinjet 324,"_ answered the man.

"Agent would you be a sweetie and contact Director Baxter for me?" smiled Wanda, as the sea bed opened up beneath them and she started lowering the jet.

The agent tapped on a screen for a few seconds before lifting his head and looking back at Wanda. _"Director Baxter is in a meeting right now and specified that she not be interrupted." _

"Believe me sweetie, she'll want to hear this," smirked Wanda. "Just send an urgent message saying that her good and incredibly useful friend the Scarlet Witch is back with the Black Widow in tow, and that she's taking the latter down to Medical."

"_I'll pass on the message,"_ agreed the agent.

"Thanks darling, Scarlet Witch out."

She glanced at Natasha and frowned slightly when she saw the look of barely concealed amusement on the spy's face.

"What?" she frowned.

"Sweetie? Darling?" smirked Natasha.

"Hey, I always say 'Be kind to the messenger in case he gets shot'," grinned Wanda. "I doubt Jackie would do that; but hey if she's with Ben who knows what could happen!"

Natasha chuckled. "You really are something else Wanda."

Wanda landed the jet and stood up, walking to the back and preparing to open the hatch. She glanced back in time to see Natasha try to stand up, only to grab onto the weapons console for support. Wanda raced back over and placed a hand on Natasha's shoulder.

"Can you walk?" she asked, concern lacing her voice and eyes.

"Yeah," nodded Natasha, forcing herself off and shrugging Wanda's hand off. "I have to do this."

"There's no shame in asking for help," murmured Wanda.

"I'll remember to tell you that next time you're injured," chucked Natasha. "No, I'll be fine; I have to walk to Medical on my own strength. Then I can collapse."

So with her head held high Natasha Romanoff re entered the world of the living. As soon as she was off that quinjet agents from all around stopped and stared, jaws dropped and whispers of 'She's alive? The Black Widow is alive?' were heard through the landing area.

Anyone who tried to approach her received a hard glare from Wanda and she and Natasha went through security undisturbed.

True to her word as soon as they reached Medical Natasha practically collapsed onto the nearest bed. The adrenaline from the escape and the fight had been enough to keep her standing; but as soon as it had worn off malnutrition and exhaustion set in.

Wanda smiled at her as she relaxed on the bed; nurses who had managed to get their jaws off the ground were rushing off frantically to find a doctor.

"And now I know why Steve speaks so highly of you," she grinned.

Natasha smiled softly in return, before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep. Her last thought was; 'I wonder where Clint is?'


	3. 2: A Spider and a Hawk

**A/N: Hello again Avengers lovers! several things I wish to address before we continue; please read it's important! **

**1: I sincerely apologise to anyone who lives in any of the countries who have made deals with the Chitauri in my story; I do not mean to offend! **

**2: In the last chapter I said that the Scarlet Witch had auburn hair but it turns out she has dark brown hair. I have fixed that in both the last chapter and this one. Sorry for the mix up! **

**3: The conversation between the Human Torch and Black Widow is inspired by a clip from the animated TV series; Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes. It's really funny and you should definitely watch it. Here's the link (without the spaces): www . youtube watch?v=u_i_WRT3fBg **

**(You'll need to add the https thing at the begining or something 'cause it won't let me put it in.)**

**Trust me; it will make you laugh. **

**4: Yes I did completely rip off the last paragraph from the movie, but it's such an epic conversation! plus it actually fits with the topic. **

**5: (Sorry this is so long) I'm trying to keep everyone in character but if anyone is OOC please tell me! I don't know much about the Scarlet Witch so I'm basically making up her personality but Mockingbird is based off the character from Earth's Mightiest Heroes. I really want to get Hawkeye in character but please tell me if I fail epically; he's my favourite I absolutely love him! And Jeremy Renner. I'm going to see the new Bourne movie when it comes out just because of him! Plus the man has the voice of an angel when he sings! **

**Okay I am done now. Oh wait... **

**Disclaimer: Do I look like a multi million dollar company to you? No! I don't own the Avengers, I only own Jackie. **

* * *

In the past year Jackie Baxter, new head of SHIELD, had been rescued from prison by the ones who put her there, fought along side SHIELD agents and people with super powers, made some pretty weird friends, somehow become Director Fury's protégé and then by some cruel twist of fate had become the new Director after her mentor's death! If someone had told her a year and a half ago that she would become friends with _the _Captain America she would have asked them for a joint of whatever they were smoking! If someone had told her she'd become head of SHIELD she would have asked them which funny farm they'd escaped from! And yet there she was, standing in a briefing room with Captain America and the Fantastic Four team with a hologram of a map of the world emanating from the screen on the table.

"The Chitauri have taken over most of North America and Canada," said Steve, pointing to the areas marked in red. "Mexico went down in a matter of hours and they've been steadily moving south into South America for the last three or four months."

"They're efficient I'll give them that," murmured Susan Richards as she frowned at the hologram.

"Our main base of operations in Africa is Wakanda," continued Jackie. "It may be small but they have technology well beyond ours that can actually match the Chitauri. King T'Challa has been very co-operative."

"Not co-operative enough to let us study some of that ore they use," frowned Reed Richards.

"I understand his reasoning on that," countered Jackie. "And I think he's right; heaven only knows what that stuff could do in the wrong hands and right now we can't risk the Chitauri getting hold of it."

Reed nodded reluctantly; as much as he wanted to study the ore he knew it would have to wait.

"They've got a fair bit of Europe under their control; but our base in Portugal is doing well co-ordinating everything," Steve pointed out the main red areas again as he spoke. "As you already know Russia, North Korea and China made a deal with the devil, South Korea was invaded not long after. They've got most of India under their control but they don't seem to have got around to Australia yet, which gave us time to set up a good base there in the outback."

"What do you want us to do Jackie?" asked Ben Grimm.

"You're not splitting us up are you?" frowned Johnny Storm. "We're the Fantastic Four! You can't split us up!"

"I wasn't going to Johnny," Jackie rolled her eyes. "You're all being re-assigned, together; I need the four of you to head up our base in Hawaii."

"Hawaii? Score!" whooped Johnny, getting glares from all the room's occupants. "I mean uh… Yeah, yeah we can do that."

"I think you'll feel right at home Mr Storm," smirked Steve as Jackie brought up a 3D image of a large smoking volcano.

"Don't worry, it's dormant," she rolled her eyes at their alarmed looks.

"Then why's it smoking?" muttered Ben.

"I dunno how it works," shrugged Jackie. "But the point is the Chitauri will never think to look there. I need you to head it up; you'll pretty much be running all of the operations for the whole of what was the USA. Reed there's also a very good lab down there, we'll need you and Sue to head up research into stuff like medical, weapons that sort of thing."

"When do we leave?" asked Sue.

"As soon as you're packed and ready," answered Jackie, closing the hologram.

"There's just one question I have," scowled Ben. "What are the kid and I supposed to do?"

"Ah now-" Jackie began but frowned when she was interrupted by a buzz at the door and a young agent stumbling in; looking very nervous.

"We're trying to have a meeting!" glared Ben, looking about ready to pick the agent up and physically throw him out of the room.

"Whoa, calm down big fella," warned Steve.

"What is it?" demanded Jackie.

"I was told to pass on the message, and I quote, your 'good and incredibly useful friend the Scarlet Witch is back with the Black Widow in tow, and she's taking the latter down to Medical'. That's all I was supposed to tell you," rattled off the poor agent.

The angry atmosphere had quickly shifted to one of surprise, joy and satisfaction. Steve was delighted that his old team mate was alive and out of Chitauri hands; he'd always respected Natasha and he knew just how good she was. The Fantastic Four exchanged incredulous looks.

"The Black Widow?" exclaimed Sue.

"She's alive?" asked Johnny.

All eyes turned to Jackie who had sat down and was wearing a thoroughly pleased smile. "Thank you agent, for passing on that message. Dismissed."

The agent scurried gratefully out of the room, the door hissing shut behind him.

Steve glanced at Jackie. "I'll finish up here if you want to go down and greet her," he offered.

Jackie pursed her lips. "Nah, I think it'd be better for her to see a familiar face. You can go."

"Or we could all go and see if the Black Widow lives up to her infamous beauty!" suggested Johnny, getting glares from his team and a hard look from Jackie.

"Don't you have a girlfriend?" glared Sue. "A girlfriend who is very capable of kicking your butt?"

Steve glanced at Jackie. "I'll go see her."

"Good idea," she nodded. "I'll finish up here."

Steve walked briskly to the door and the last thing he heard was Jackie saying; "Contact Agent Morse; I have something to discuss with her," into her comm. Link.

* * *

When Steve got to medical Natasha was still out cold with Wanda standing next to her bed; her back to the door. She turned as soon as he entered, grinning brightly.

"She's just as strong as you said," she smiled.

Steve walked over to stand next to Wanda. "How is she?"

"Malnourished and exhausted, the doctors needed to re break and set some bones that had healed wrong," she shuddered, remembering the sound. "She barely made a noise herself but I have a feeling that crunching noise will haunt me to my dying day."

"I thought you were tougher than that Maximoff."

Two pairs of eyes were drawn to the occupant of the bed and Wanda smirked at her.

"I'm pretty tough, but I'm not as tough as you Romanoff."

"Wow that's two compliments in the time I've known you," Natasha's eyes opened and she looked up at them blearily. "Good to see you again Steve."

"You too Natasha," he grinned. "How are you feeling?"

"Like crap," she muttered, stretching her limbs gingerly. "But I'll live."

"I just give credit where it's due," butted in Wanda; returning to Natasha's earlier comment. "And with you Romanoff, it is definitely due."

Natasha raised an eyebrow but turned her attention to Steve again. "Maybe you can tell me where Barton is? No one else seems willing to tell me."

Just as Steve opened his mouth to reply a voice with a slight southern accent interrupted from the door.

"That's because no one wants to give you the bad news."

Natasha's lips turned up slightly. "Mockingbird."

"Well isn't this just a day for ghosts Widow?"

Bobbi Morse, AKA Mockingbird, stepped into the room, her blonde hair lying over her shoulders and her blue eyes sparkling. She was just the way Natasha remembered her; in a dark suit with a thick white strip down the front and back and with her extendable batons hanging at her sides.

"Where's Barton?" Natasha asked, ignoring her comment.

In turn Bobbi ignored her and turned to Steve. "The boss needs you for something to do with tracking the green guy down. She'd be here to see Romanoff herself if she didn't have to sort that out."

"I'll see you later Natasha," smiled Steve, giving her a nod before marching from the room; his military training showing in his gait.

"I don't know whether it's safe to leave you two alone in the same room," murmured Wanda. "I'll stick around; ya know… for safety."

"You're just being nosy Wanda," smirked Bobbi. "Don't worry; we won't kill each other."

"We're not friends and we're not enemies," muttered Natasha. "Where is Barton?"

"Probably some dive bar in the back end of no where," shrugged Bobbi. "He took it kinda hard when you got taken out. Everyone thought you were dead, except Fury apparently. Must have passed on that knowledge to Baxter."

Natasha sighed heavily. She had hoped that maybe he would have kept fighting. But he had been low when she last saw him; lower than she'd ever seen him before. But then, when some crazed demigod decides to root around in your head and gives you the knowledge that he was going to make you kill your best friend and partner 'slowly, intimately, in every way you know she fears' it's gonna mess you up.

"Don't worry Romanoff, the boss has a plan," Wanda interrupted her thoughts. "I mean; she hasn't told me about it yet but she has a plan. She always does."

"Well that's comforting," Natasha muttered sarcastically.

Just then a dark head of hair poked around the corner of the door. "Yo! Birdie, Witchie! Boss lady wants you, and while you're there tell her I do not appreciate being a gopher!"

"Aw Darcy, you're not a gopher, you're a go between," smirked Bobbi.

"That doesn't make me feel better," she glared, before it changed to a bright smile directed at Natasha and she disappeared again.

"She's as daft as Dr Foster," Bobbi shook her head.

"Nah, Jane isn't daft," Wanda shook her head. "Hyper focused on only one thing at a time yeah, but not daft." She turned to Natasha. "We'd better go see Jackie. I'll keep you posted on Barton."

"Thanks," Natasha gave her a small smile before settling back into her pillows. "I have nothing else to do; may as well sleep some more."

* * *

"Please tell me you're kidding," begged Bobbi.

"I am not kidding," Jackie shook her head, leaning back in her chair and glancing around at the inhabitants of the room.

"You want me, to go bar hopping, find Barton, and drag his probably drunk backside out of said bar and bring him here?" stated Bobbi. Wanda looked like she wanted to laugh; Janet was just smiling serenely at Bobbi who was sending her desperate looks.

"In a nutshell," nodded Jackie.

"Case! Nutcase! Which is exactly what you are if you think I'm gonna be able to do this!" exclaimed Bobbi.

"You're an agent, just like him," shrugged Jackie. "And he's a gentleman. I say this from experience; he was even a gentleman whilst putting me behind bars. Which highlights two things; one is that he's less likely to hit and or kill a female SHIELD agent on sight."

"What's the second thing?" frowned Bobbi.

"I can't go get him because since he locked me up, he'd likely think I was trying to kill him," she rolled her eyes. "Oooh! He's the best marksman in the world and he thinks I have a grudge against him! Let's poke him with a stick!"

Janet chuckled and Wanda grinned while Bobbi just nodded reluctantly.

"Yeah, I get that," she scowled. "But why can't Wanda do it?"

"Agent Maximoff just retrieved the Black Widow from a high security prison," Jackie raised an eyebrow. "And you want me to send her straight back into the field? Come on Morse! You're smarter than that!"

"Fine, fine! I see your point," she grumbled. "What about Janet?"

"Why are you arguing with me?" murmured Jackie before answering her question. "Janet and Hank leave in a few hours for another retrieval."

"We do?" frowned Janet. "This is the first I've heard of it."

"Yeah I'll brief you and Hank later, just let me sort out Bobbi," Jackie turned back to the blonde. "C'mon Bobbi, he was a SHIELD agent, you're a SHIELD agent, you know him! You know how he thinks."

"No one knows how Hawkeye thinks," snorted Bobbi. "I'm clearly not getting out of this one, am I?"

"No."

Bobbi sighed heavily. "Fine. When do I leave?"

Jackie grinned. "We have a lead on his whereabouts. So, Right now."

* * *

Natasha knew someone was watching her. She was the Black Widow; she always knew when someone was watching her. She cracked one eye open and caught a glimpse of a young man in a uniform she recognised almost instantly. She opened her eyes fully and he grinned at her from across the room.

"Hey! She's awake!" he grinned. Johnny Storm, or the Human Torch, was standing in the doorway in all his cocky glory, grinning at her. "And just as beautiful as described!"

She raised an eyebrow at him, smiling inside. Oh, she was gonna have a little fun with this. "Sorry, who are you? I recognise the uniform but I can't quite place it."

"Really?" he gave her a slightly confused look. "Well I guess if you're in a high security prison you're bound to miss some things, but the Fantastic Four have been around since before the Avengers!"

"Ah," Natasha put on a thoughtful face. "The Fantastic Four! I remember now. There was the Invisible Woman, Mr Fantastic, the Thing and… who was the last guy?"

Her training was becoming very useful right then because she kept a blank inquisitive face on while inside she wanted to grin at his dumbfounded look.

"Seriously? How can you know the others but not me?" he exclaimed, throwing his hands out wide. "I'm Johnny! Johnny Storm; the Human Torch?"

They were interrupted by soft laughter from behind Johnny when Wanda appeared in the doorway.

"You know she's teasing you, right Johnny?" she smirked.

"Uh yeah, yeah I knew that," he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Hey Wanda, can I talk to you in private?"

"Yeah, sure," she nodded before turning to Natasha. "I'll be back in a minute, I've got a bit of an update on Barton."

* * *

Clint Barton swore under his breath as he was roughly and literally tossed out the back door of his latest dive bar by a big guy with more muscle than brains. Clint probably could have taken the bouncer if he wasn't two or three sheets to the wind already. He rolled when he hit the ground and ended up hitting the wall on the opposite side of the alley. He yelled and swore at the bouncer in a mix of Portuguese and English but the big guy just rolled his eyes and slammed the door shut.

Clint huffed and prepared to get up, knowing he was going to have some pretty colourful bruises in the morning. He wasn't really that drunk; maybe a little tipsy.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen."

As mentioned before, he wasn't drunk, so he had no trouble drawing his knife out from where he normally hid it.

"Whoa there Barton! It's just me!" a blonde woman stepped out of the shadows and he recognised her almost instantly.

Clint chuckled mirthlessly. "Morse. What're you doin' here?"

"You gonna put the knife away?" she eyed the blade warily.

He shrugged and slipped it back into its hiding place. "So, what are you doing here Mockingbird?"

"Let's not beat around the bush, I'm here to recruit you."

He blinked at her, she placed her hands on her hips and stared him down. "You're kidding."

"No I'm really not," she raised an eyebrow.

He laughed. "I've probably been sober for all of three hours in the last year and you want to recruit me? That's funny Bobbi, real funny."

She said nothing and just stepped closer; taking a picture out from a pouch in her belt.

"What are you doing?" he frowned, resisting every impulse to step away.

"Recognise this woman?" she held out the picture. He took it with a suspicious glance at her before looking down at the picture. His heart dropped into his stomach when he saw the image. It was Natasha, his old partner, his best friend, a woman he wished was more than his best friend. And she was dead.

He crumpled the picture in his hand and rubbed his other hand over his face. "Why are you showing me that?" he growled.

"That picture was taken almost a year ago," continued Bobbi. "That's when you stopped fighting isn't it? When Fury told you she was dead."

Clint bit his lip and dropped the crumpled photo. "I heard a rumour that Fury kicked it. That true?" he asked, desperately trying to get away from such a sore subject.

"Yeah," she nodded. "We've got a new leader now and she sent me to get you. She seems to think having the world's greatest marksman on our team could be very useful," Bobbi shrugged, a sarcastic smile playing around her lips. "Go figure."

He didn't smile, just looked at her. "What team?"

Bobbi smirked. "The Avengers."

Clint felt his eyebrows make a run for his hairline. "The Avengers split up."

"We're getting them back together," grinned Bobbi. "That photo you crushed was taken almost one year ago at the Battle for Manhattan," she pulled another photo out of the same pouch. "And this one was taken three hours ago in the medical facilities at our HQ," she handed him the photo and his heart almost stopped. There was Natasha, in a hospital issued medical gown, lying on a bed with a nurse on one side and a woman with brown hair on her other side. Natasha was smirking at something the brunette had said, amusement shining in her eyes. Apart from how pale she was and the IV hooked up to her wrist she looked to be in perfect health.

"She… she's alive?" he turned to Bobbi.

She smiled and nodded.

He laughed breathlessly. "And you think this is gonna convince me to re-join the Avengers?"

Bobbi raised an eyebrow. "Yes."

"Well you're darn right Morse."

* * *

The flight back to HQ was mostly silent until Clint remembered something Bobbi had said in the alleyway.

"So Fury is dead," he said, getting her attention. "You said we have a new leader. Who is it?"

Bobbi smirked. "I'm pretty sure you know her. You locked her up in the Big House a few years back, that's why I'm here and she's not. She would've come herself but you probably would have thought she was trying to get revenge by coming after you."

"You're gonna have to narrow it down Morse," shrugged Clint.

"Jackie Baxter, AKA Electrica."

"Oh yeah. Now I remember," he winced. "She shocked me into kingdom come before we managed to take her down! I probably _would_ have thought she was trying to kill me."

Bobbi laughed. "Amazingly she doesn't hold grudges. I mean, she was locked in prison and then in a lab while people poked and prodded her with sticks and needles. And yet she still became Fury's little protégé and ended up director of SHIELD and the Avengers."

"She's done well for herself," murmured Clint, not batting an eyelash when Bobbi dropped the quinjet underwater; he'd been a SHIELD agent for too long to be surprised by something like that.

"Yeah you'd think," snorted Bobbi. "But not from talkin' to her. I don't think she wanted the gig in the first place. But she's very good at it for someone who seems to think all she's good for is zapping people with God only knows how many volts of electricity."

Clint smirked and sat back in his seat. "Well this should be interesting."

* * *

"Look, I feel fine! I don't see why I can't get up!" glared Natasha.

The doctor sighed, he was used to most agents complaining about being confined to the medical bay but Natasha Romanoff was not most agents.

"Agent Romanoff, you were severely-"

"Malnourished I know!" she scowled. "I've been malnourished before, why can't I get up?"

"How about you let me explain it to her doc?"

Natasha gasped when her old partner stepped into the room with a silly grin on his face as he stepped over to her bed.

"Clint!" she smiled up at him, really smiled which was something rare for Natasha. Most of the time she would smirk or her smiles would be cold and calculating but the smile she was giving him was a real smile.

He bent down next to the bed so he was level with her and cupped her cheek. "You're alive," he murmured.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Yes."

"I almost didn't believe it when Morse showed me the picture," he smiled slightly. "Are you all right?"

She grimaced. "They're not letting me get up."

He smirked. "Is that all?"

"I'm not doing anything constructive!"

He chuckled. "That's the Nat I know," he murmured before cupping her cheek and kissing her softly.

Natasha blinked in surprise but kissed him back, bringing her arms up around his neck.

He pulled away and let his mouth rest next to her ear. "I've wanted to do that since Budapest," he whispered.

Her lips twitched. "You and I remember Budapest very differently," she murmured, repeating his words from nearly a year ago.

He laughed softly and kissed him again.

* * *

Behind a one way window Jackie watched the reunion with a smile on her face.

"You gonna interrupt them?" asked Steve, glancing down at the dark haired woman.

She turned and started down the hall. "No. I'll let them have some time together and then I'll debrief them together, make 'em more comfortable. For now I've gotta brief Wasp and Ant-Man."

Steve grinned. "You think they're gonna enjoy their assignment?"

Jackie's lips twitched in amusement. "Probably not. I have a feeling it'll do weird things to their blood pressure."

* * *

"Janet, Hank, thank you for coming," Jackie smiled. "I have a mission for the two of you."

"Cool!" grinned Janet, getting a raised eyebrow from Hank.

"What do you need us to do?" he asked.

"I need you to go after the big guy," answered Jackie.

"Uh, boss Stark and I don't really have the best history," frowned Hank. "I worked with him a few years back, when he was still into weapons, and we… disagreed on a few things."

Janet snorted but didn't say anything.

"Oh don't worry, I'm getting Stark myself," smirked Jackie.

"So… who do we get?" frowned Janet.

"The big guy," answered their leader as she leaned back in her chair and waited for them to get it. It took all of three seconds.

"Oh no," gaped Hank. Jackie smirked.

"The big guy?" repeated Janet, a look of shock on her face. "As in the big _green_ guy?"

"You leave for Calcutta in two hours."

Janet blinked. "Oh God."


End file.
